Still Wings
by annaisadinosaur
Summary: There was a place for Remus and Dorcas, and it was not that they could not find it, but that they could not find it yet.


There is a wall. It is towering and made of a titanium that no man, wizard or god could ever hope to severe, and while Remus and Dorcas stand on one side, they stand also on the other. There, on one side, is the light, the dream, the day; on the other is its shadow, the dark, the nightmare and the night. Both sides run forever, tirelessly, in lines that never coincide, with suns that never set and suns that never rise. They are together and yet apart on the edge of two universes.

On the side where it is night, there is war. This is the way of the dark, what it brings, what has existed and what will always exist. The world, eventually, collapses with the burden and, one day, explodes. It is the day that Remus and Dorcas sneak into the orphanage in the center of the battle and free the children into the night. Farther away, members of the Order fight similar battles; for Remus and Dorcas, the danger waits simply behind a closed door.

The sky combusts with color, streaking through the perilous heavens as it falls back to the earth and rains the cries of soldiers into the ground. The air sighs of death and the dirt weeps crimson of loss. Remus is so afraid that this is what he has become, just another soldier in battle that will fight to be forgotten. He is bruised and torn but he always has been, and the blank lines and empty spaces that made him who he was so long ago are ripped open like a crack in a vessel falling into two.

There is a child standing on his shoulders and he lifts him up and out through the window. "Come on," he tells him, "you can do it. Just grab the frame and lower yourself down." As he watches the boy land on the other side with a deafened _thud_, the last of the children of war escape. All except for two.

Remus and Dorcas are the last in the room when she stiffens, and grabs the crook of his arm. "Someone's coming," she breathes, wide eyes staring at the gap beneath the door.

"Then we've got to go," he says without hesitation. "Let's—"

"But we'll just be followed," she says, aiming her panicked expression instead at him.

"We'll run," he tells her, anxiety eating away his steadiness, "Dorcas, we haven't got the time..."

"Shh," she whispers suddenly, and falls closer into his side. "I... I can hear them, outside the door. They're here."

* * *

On the side of the wall where it is day, there is summer. And it is not just any summer, but the sort of green summer that is forever imprinted into your memory, to which any summer thereafter pales in comparison.

And Dorcas's eyes are so wide that they are almost entirely white. "They're here."

He swivels about wildly. "Who?"

"The _neighbors_." She nods in their direction, solemn and serious.

He sees them. He and Dorcas are standing side by side, staring at a bewildered red-haired couple, also side-by-side, like some sort of standoff. He is suddenly very conscious of the sprinkler raining on their heads and the wet grass sticking to his ankles.

"Maybe because we just ran through someone else's lawn," he whispers.

"Let's just make matters worse then," she says with a wicked smile, and yanks on his wrist, pulling them both into a sprint for the front door. He slips on the grass and stumbles towards the door, which she eases open with a flick of her wand. He is breathless and laughing and asking her why on Earth she has just done this, but she just shrugs and asks, "How long do you think till they call the police?"

"I don't know if 'breaking and entering' is something I really want on my personal record..."

"Haven't broken anything, have we? I was just avoiding a scene." She smiles and puts her hands on her hips. He is thinking that the charm is shining from within her eyes like a jewel.

He means to say something about trespassing and invading personal space, but says none of this and just smiles. "Okay. But no mud tracks on the floor."

* * *

Somewhere farther off the world is sapped in darkness and heartbeats race for distinctly different reasons.

Remus pulls Dorcas to him and places his hands on the side of her head, tucks her blonde hair back behind her ear, looking her straight in the face. "We are going to run so fast that there won't even be tracks to follow." He pauses, and she just waits, her chest rising and falling slowly. "Okay?"

She nods, closing her eyes.

"You and I are going to be okay," he says. "After all of this is over, you and I are going to be okay."

"I know," she says. "Of course we'll be okay. I mean, I've still got to tell my parents we're getting married, haven't I?" And when she smiles, she is the most genuine creature alive, because those are the only sorts of smiles Dorcas Meadowes ever gives.

He kisses her on the top of her head and whispers into her hair, "Then you get out that window right this moment before I have to throw you out myself."

She knocks the wind out of him as she suddenly throws herself in his arms and buries herself there, her heart a clock beating out of control against his, a warmth emanating like light. It is different and demanding and strangely somehow more affectionate than he imagines a kiss could have ever been in that moment. He wants to cry at how absurdly like good-bye this feels, and so he does not let go for a moment longer than he should, but eventually he draws away and murmurs, "Go."

* * *

The light is spilling onto her face and her golden hair is set ablaze. She clings to his hands and with a twirl and a gust of wind their bodies collide. She laughs hysterically, head falling into his chest.

"Ow," she says. "That might have _looked_ romantic, but it was really just very painful."

"I think I _did _mention I was no good at dancing."

"Okay, when I say go," she says. "Ow! That was my foot! I did not say go!"

"You did, too," he accuses.

"Well, not _technically_. Oi, you twat. You know what, take your shoes off. That will solve many of our problems."

So Remus and Dorcas slide their shoes over by the refrigerator and lose their footing on the slick tile floor and laugh and dance beneath the day.

* * *

He hears her land violently, feet first and then hands, a blurred mess on the ground, because angels with clipped wings are no good at flying. She groans before staggering upright. "I'm all right," she announces, brushing herself off. "Nothing broken, only... sore. Ow. Bugger." She turns to the window, peering through it. "Your turn."

"Okay, I don't think I can—I'll get a crate to step on. Hold on. Can you wait a second?"

She pouts. "Probably not." Then, "Just hurry."

Remus steps away from the window and struggles a moment to yank a crate free from a pile. The rest come clattering to the floor and he flinches before springing back into action. He is only a pace away from the window when it slams shut before him and his wand snaps out of his hand.

Dorcas screams his name, and all at once everything has changed.

The door is open, and there is a figure behind him, waiting. The man does not smile, only coldly observes, and slowly, ever so slowly, lowers his wand, Remus's visible between his fingers. "You might want to choose your last words very carefully here. Not many people get that opportunity. Mind, you'll probably have to yell them, but all the same. Opportunity."

A whirl of emotions is circling about Remus's head, but the shock renders him momentarily incoherent. He thinks many things all at once: he does not want Dorcas to see him die, which he suddenly realizes is about to happen. He wants her to run, but knows that she will not abandon him. And, most clearly, he thinks aloud, "_What?_" This is followed by an only slightly more eloquent, "What sort of lousy Death Eater gives _last words_? Did you come straight out of a children's book?"

Remus knows that Death Eaters are nothing but cruel, so why is he doing this? It is not mercy, but it is still bizarre. When the man's face remains impassive and his eyes slide subtly to the window, Remus does not at first understand. And it is cruelty of the highest degree.

Remus spins to the window and finds that Dorcas has turned away. She is surrounded. She is alone amidst a sea of terror. He cries out suddenly and pounds against the window, calling her name until his face begins to go blue. She either does not hear him or does not acknowledge him, but both are equally excruciating. He is crying and tearing and pulling and it is absolutely nothing.

In the forest emerges a figure he cannot recognize, and a hiss emits, overpowering the sound of his own protests, nestling deep into the dark spaces of mind, "Enough of the antagonism. There is no time for play." A wand is raised against a stark of white, and Remus's mouth goes dry and a rush of cold pulses through his body. Then there is a light brighter than any night and the green extends the end of every universe.

"_Avada Kedavra_."

And sometime in between, it all ends.

He does not remember feeling Dorcas's body crumple to the ground, for perhaps he feels nothing. Perhaps that is what makes tragedy tragic, the pure _nothingness_ of it all. There is good-bye in the air but he is still stuck on, "hurry," a circling cycle that flips over and over in his head, a broken record playing something from his nightmares.

There is a smack behind him, and he does not turn until he hears, "_Moony!_", and even then he does not willfully move. But eventually he realizes it is Sirius standing in the light of the doorway, two wands in one hand, shaking out the other and hissing in pain. "Did you really not see that? I just knocked that old blighter out with my fist! Merlin did that hurt but how outrageously impressive is—hey, weren't you with Dorky Meadowes? Where'd she go?"

After that, Remus does not think it matters. After that, Dorcas Meadowes is gone. After that, times passes within blinks and later, much later, he goes to her and holds her in his arms. Somewhere, somewhere farther off than Remus could ever reach, two parallel universes collide.

And for Dorcas, a world of day and a world of night meet, and she feels the glory of the sun as it rises and as it falls, and there is war but there is also freedom, and Remus's last words to her are, "Come back. Don't leave me_, _Dorcas, don't do this..._ Please come back._"

* * *

A/N: This, for the record, is not technically AU. I intended it to be a bit more of a metaphor. And while it's not perfect as far as metaphors go, the universes themselves are not supposed to be entirely literal. And it needs a little more revision and re-reads but I just aughhh *throws one thousand papers into the air* I must be done with this. Anyhow don't worry about the stuff below unless it applies to you. Thanks for reading!

Anna x

The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Chaser 2, Chudley Cannons

"But once you knew a girl and you named her Lover/ And danced with her in kitchens in the greenest summer/ But autumn came, she disappeared/ You can't remember where she said she was going to." – Perfect Sonnet, Bright Eyes. (This song has the _most beautiful lyrics ever invented_ I swear. I fell in love.) Prompts: Freedom, clipped wings, shoes

The Angst Challenge of Epic Proportions:

Pairing: RemusDorcas, Word Prompt: charm, Quote: "How hard you worked for what you wanted. How cruelly fate betrayed you in the end." – The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate, Song Lyrics: "And we don't let nobody bring us down/ No matter what you say, it won't hurt me/ Don't matter if I fall from the sky/ These wings are made to fly" – Wings, Little Mix.

I used the lyrics and quotes more for the meaning rather than a direct application. If you squint a little, you can tell, I promise.


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